The Big 12-pack: Why the Big 12 still has a seat at the big-boy table

If it’s Friday, make sure you stop by for some refreshment with our weekly Big-12 Pack.

It packs a punch.

1. Sure, it’s fashionable to complain that the Big 12 isn’t the power conference it was before the rash of conference defections took place.

The Big 12 has lost power teams in the last three years with the departure of Nebraska, Colorado, Texas A&M and Missouri. The Tigers (fifth) and Aggies (18th) finished in the AP’s postseason top 25 in football released last week. Nebraska (26th) was just outside of it.

It’s clear the Big 12 isn’t what it used to be, but one fact remains clear. At the NCAA convention taking place this weekend in San Diego new rules are being proposed that would provide more power to the biggest schools to allow a stronger voice to athletic directors and in how student-athletes are treated by their schools.

These rules are being drawn to benefit representatives from the five so-called “power conferences.”

The new rules will be drafted to benefit representatives from the five major conferences — the Southeastern, Pac-12, Big Ten, Atlantic Coast and yes, the Big 12.

The discussion indicates that the Big 12 still is considered among the national elite. Even if it was ready to be fitted for toe-tags less than three years ago, the grant of rights deal which grouped all television contracts for a predetermined period under conference control saved the conference and continues to keep it relevant.

The hiring of former Iowa and Stanford athletic director Bob Bowlsby, one of the most respected figures in college athletics, didn’t hurt.

The conference is still considered among the “big boys.”

Even if it isn’t as strong as it used to be.

2. There were a couple of interesting residential issues that took place across the conference this week. First, new Texas football coach Charlie Strong will require all of his team members to live on campus. Only seniors with clearance from the UT coach will be able to live away from campus. The idea is to promote team unit and end cliques that ravaged the team during the latter stages of Mack Brown’s coaching era.

Kansas will take Strong’s idea one step further as they have received funding for the creation of a new $17.5 million dormitory developed for members of the school’s men’s and women’s basketball teams set to open in 2016-17. The Fieldhouse Apartments will provide creature comforts which Coach Bill Self believes are currently lacking when compared to KU’s recruting rivals.

“Everybody will have their own take,” Self told the Kansas City Star. “But housing, where our student-athletes reside now, is way, way, way, way behind what the competitors would be housing their student-athletes in, in a big way.”

3. I’m sure I’m not alone in having a little trouble letting go of the college football season. As such, some fans might have some interest in a couple of all-star games on Saturday where Big 12 players will be featured.

4. Interesting news in Fort Worth, where wayward TCU offensive tackle Tayo Fabuluje is angling for a return with the Horned Frogs team. You’ll remember that Gary Patterson was rightfully livid when Fabuluje announced in August that was transferring to BYU. Now, Fabuluje says on a Facebook post that he left TCU because of “family issues” in the area. “[The TCU coaching staff was] happy and welcomed me back with open arms,” Fabuluje said. “The coaches here are like dads. They know we’re not perfect and we make mistakes but they love us anyway and I thank them for that.” His return for a senior season would be huge for a TCU offensive line that ranked 110th in rushing yards and 55th in sacks allowed.

5. Steven Lassen of Athlon Sports.com trotted out some way-too-early predictions for the Big 12 in 2014, picking OU Oklahoma as his early favorite, followed by Baylor, Kansas State and UT Texas. Other notable picks included TCU at seventh and West Virginia at ninth. We’ll trot out our conference picks periodically, but this one was interesting because it came out only a few days after the season ended.

6. The Big 12 might have been one of the biggest winners when the deadline for early declaration for the NFL Draft came this week. Only three Big 12 players will leave early: Texas Tech tight end Jace Amaro, Baylor running back Lache Seastrunk and OSU wide receiver Josh Stewart. Of them, Amaro figures to be the only one taken in the first round on the first day of the draft. But comparatively speaking, the Big 12 will lose fewer key players than any other major conference. And that should result with a better brand of football next year with more underclassmen returning like Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty, UT defensive end Cedric Reed and OU linebacker Eric Striker.

7. In Big 12 hoops, KU played a stunningly strong effort against KSU, particularly a first half that saw them hit a sizzling 65.5 percent from the field and commit no turnovers. “That’s not going to happen very often in a college basketball game,” Self said, and he’s right. Kansas State came in as one of the Big 12′s top defensive teams, but the Jayhawks sliced them up with surgical precision as they collected 14 assists on their 19 first-half hoops that helped catapult them to a convincing 86-60 victory.

“Sometimes when you are playing a very sound defensive team, you put so much emphasis on what we need to do and what we actually did,” Self said. “We had great ball movement. And the big thing was we took great shots and got the ball where we wanted to.”

8. In social news around the Big 12, several recent news reports indicate that Oklahoma State sugar daddy T. Boone Pickens is engaged to be married for the fifth time. The 85-year-old Pickens now is engaged to his girlfriend Toni Brinker, who is a millionaire on her own account as she’s a widow of the late Steak & Ale magnate Norman Brinker. Pickens and his most recent wife Madeleine Pickens divorced after seven years of marriage in 2012. Our best wishes for Pickens as he strolls down the aisle — again.

9. It’s still a little hard to let the football season go. Here’s a compilation of the greatest hits of the 2013 season that were compiled by ESPN and have already ended up on You Tube.

Enjoy them. And remember, the 2014 season is a little more than seven months away.

10. The Big 12 will be well represented in Sunday’s NFC and AFC championship games. As we mentioned last week, the matchup between Seattle former UT standout safety Earl Thomas against San Francisco WR and former Tech record-breaking wide receiver Michael Crabtree could determine who wins the NFC game. In the AFC, watch for former Tech offensive linemen Manny Ramirez and Louis Vasquez will be responsible for protecting Peyton Manning. And it will also highlight a top battle as former Tech wide receiver WR Wes Welker of Denver will tangle with shutdown former KU cornerback Aqib Talib.

11. We would like this weekly missive to be chocked with items from you fans. Please don’t hesitate to send questions that you might want answered to my e-mail at tgriffin@express-news.net. One early question and a nice note we received this week came from B.G. of Plano who said he “loved” the first edition of the Big 12-Pack and wondered who were our favorite Big 12 announcers. Through the magic of Sirius radio, I’m able to listen to them all and think there are a bunch of good ones across the conference. My personal favorites include Dave Hunziker at OSU, Craig Way at Texas and the broadcast team of Brian Estridge and John Denton at TCU.

12. WVU quarterback Clint Trickett has had a busy couple of weeks. First he went to California last week to watch his father, Florida State offensive line coach Rick Trickett, win the national championship. And this week, the WVU quarterback had some clean-up surgery performed by legendary orthopedic surgeon James Andrews to repair a torn labrum on his right shoulder. . As you can see with this picture he tweeted, he didn’t spare many gory details. Not surprisingly, it got a bunch of return Tweets. My favorite came from Amaro, who jokingly asked Trickett what kind of shampoo and conditioner he used before the procedure.